"Pati Babu" Her soft melodious childlike voice enters in his ears like sweet honeydrop , causing a small smile on his lips as he sensed her excitement, which is common whenever she is in mood to play with him.
He looks around at the straps of white clothes, softly moving with air, creating obstacles for his vision.
"Pati Babu" Her voice reflecting her suppressed giggle again fall on his ears. He swiftly turns towards her direction, sliding the clothes to stop any hindrance.There his eyes catches her .
.
Bondita .
His eight years old bride , clad in red saree draped around her in Bengali style. Her hairline is filled with red vermilion. Her eyes expands wide on being caught, making her eyebrows to go up , bringing his attention towards her little red bindi .She hides her face behind her both hands which is beautifully decorated with alta .
Slight chuckle escape from his mouth looking at her cute attempt to hide herself . However the constant pang in his heart increases at the sight.
Sindoor , Alta , Bindi.
How small she is for these things! So much fragile! So much innocent. A child but bride .Two words .They should have no relation to each other. But unfortunately it have.
She is his bride ,his child bride.
Again jingling of her anklet , brings him out of his thoughts. He again looks at his child bride, who is running away from her
.He too starts chasing her with the serene smile on his face .He again gets her glimpse but somehow she is slightly taller than before. Not much but slight.
He again turns towards her direction to chase and again caught her glimpse. Again she is changed from before. Taller and with some changes in the body.
And just like that With every glimpse,her height is growing, her features are changing, the melody of her voice too changes ,even the ringing of her laughter changes.
He should have to think about that .He should have to feel weird about the sudden growth of his wife. But for some reason he doesn't feel anything. It feels like this is the most normal things of the world.
Then again he caught the glimpse of his sixteen year old bride , standing afar from him, holding the grace of a teenager, carrying the shine of the newly developed feminity in her eyes , but with the same innocent smile. He walks towards her with satisfactory smile. Finally he is going to hold her. It feels like it has been ages since he feels her soothing warmth in his embrace.
But how is this possible?
It is habit of Bondita to jump in his arms every now and then. He even tried to stop her , after he noticed the changes in her body .But She was too much adamant to stop and he too could not give her valid reason . It's not like he has any wrong intention toward her .Moreover neither she nor he is uncomfortable. So it was no harm.
The loud honking noise brings him out of his thoughts and he looks up at Bondita .She was standing near the shore , looking at him with sad eyes , fighting hard with tears .His whole concentration is on her, the background of dockyard is fading behind her .
Why are they on ship?
Oh! Yes . She is going to London. She has to . Afterall she has to become barrister.
He looks at her sad eyes .How much he wants to stop her! How much does he want to engulf her in his arms ! But he can't. He can't hinder her path for his own selfish reason.
He saw as she raises her hand towards her ,as if urging her to hold it to never leave again. He wants to .He badly wants to .
Oh!
But he can't. He remains firm on his ground, holding the stern look on his face , putting his whole effort to not burst into tears .How will he leave without his Bondita? . Suddenly it becomes too difficult to hide his tears .So He looks down .
PATI BABU!!!!.
Her loud voice,filled with terror and pain rings in his ears .He looks up , only to find himself in the middle of the ocean , surrounded by the debris of wrecked ship, debris of his broken dream.
"BONDITA" He shouted aloud, carrying the desperation, pain and fear in his voice.
************************************
He looks around himself with some haziness. His heart is still beating erratically inside his ribcage .His breathing too is uneven.He moves his hand in his hair and closes his eyes , feeling the wetness of a lone tear drop as it slide down on his left cheek .
"Bondita" He whispers slightly to himself before wiping his tears and looking at her little doll ,in his hand.
Taking a deep breath, he comes down from the bed and walks towards the self and carefully placed the doll inside a glass chamber.After adoring the doll for one or two minutes,he headed towards the bathroom to complete his daily chores and to prepare himself to face the world.
*****************************************
"Aaj bhi Dada baudi ka naam le kar hi uthe hai" Batuk speaks after he takes his seat on the couch.
"Le kar nhi Chilla kar " Somnath ,who was trotting behind Batuk, corrected him , before taking his seat. He heard the sad sigh of his Kaka.
" Cheh saal ho gaye hai ,Bahu ko gaye hue. Lekin ek din aaisa nhi gaya jab ye ladka uska naam chikh kar nhi uthta " Said Trilochan Roy Chowdhury with dejected sigh ." Aur abhi aaise niche aayega jaise bilkul thik hai kuchh hua hi nhi hai isse"
"Usse Pta thori na hai Dada ki uski chikh itni tej hoti hai ki itne bade haveli ke bhi har kone tak pahuch jati hai" Said Binoy , adjusting his spectacles.
"Aur kehta tha ki wo bas zimmedaari hai. Agar pehle hi apne bhawnao ko apna liya hota .Bahu ko Barrister banane ka fittor chhor diya hota ,uske saath apne vaivahik jivan ki shuruwat kar li hoti, to aaj Na sirf Bahu humare bich hoti , balki Un dono ke nanhe munne bachhe khel rahe hote iss aangan me". Trilochan speaks furiously, however his eyes gets teary , remembering his little packet of Dhamaka .
"Dada, Please aap Anirudh ke samne ye sab mat bolna .Isme uski koi galti nhi hai .Hadsa tha ho gya. Wo bas bahu ka achcha chahta tha .Bas. " Said Binoy .
"Hum kaha bol rahe hai uske samne kuchh. Tumse jyada parvah hai Hume uski . Tumhara beta hai to kya hua bete jaise paal posh kar bada humne kiya hai usse.Hum jante hai kitne dard me hai wo .Jale per namak nhi chhidak sakte hai hum. " Trilochan said getting angry on remark of his brother.
"Dada aa rahe hai " Batuk Warned the elders when he saw his brother approaching from afar , dressed in his barrister attire.
"Are Anirudh, Nasta kiye bina jaa rahe ho" Said Trilochan as he noticed the attire of his son
"Court me kar lunga, Kaka " Said Anirudh, ready to depart.
"Court me kitna nasta karoge , sab jante hai hum" Trilochan scolded in fatherly manner." Are Iss umr me apne Kaka ko tang karna achha lagta hai kya tumhe."
"Kaka bhukh nhi hai mujhe" Replied Anirudh. "Batuk tumhe bhi aaj ussi taraf Jana tha na chalo mai chhor deta hu.'
"Dada .... Mujhe bhook hai aur...nasta bhi karna hai " Said Batuk with some hesitation, afraid that asking favour from his brother would cost him too much.
"Thik hai tum nasta kar lo. Phir chalenge hum "Anirudh speaks and he sits on the couch beside his brother.
"Lekin nasta nhi karoge tum?" Said Trilochan in displeasure. "Jab tum chote the tab..."
"Bihari...." Anirudh calls Bihari ,the loyal servant of his house , when he was going to put his letters in his study. Usually he reads them after returning from court but today there is no other way to escape from his Kaka's affectionate scolding. So he calls Bihari, before his Kaka starts reminding him about his childhood and all his embarassing activities and how he cope up with it.
" Ye khat yahi rakh do ,Bihari ." He ordered and the servant follows his order.
"Sab Samjhte hai hum" He heard his Kaka's words, before he starts reading the sender's address, to prioritise the one .There are some letters that was send by the government, then by the welfare organisation and then there are some lawyers asking for advice, some businesses men asking for legal help. Out of all his pick up the one letter and opens it.
"Aadhya Awasthi" Batuk who is sitting beside Anirudh, murmurs the sender's name , looking curiously at his brother as he opens the letter with his usual expressionless face.
"Respected Sir,
I hope you remember me .I am Aadhya Awasthi, a law student from the Kings college, London. I have already written some letters to you and you have replied them , each of them. Even if you don't remember, I am making an effort to remind you. "
A slight smile appears on his lips . And if Batuk was not looking at him with more than required concentration, he could have missed it .
"Bhulne do to bhulu na " He heard the slight murmuring of his brother, before he again starts reading. He tried to lean towards the letter, so that he can see the content inside it Only to recieve glare from his brother. Somehow he was saved from the lecture to respect privacy. He looks at his brother who again gets busy in reading the letter
"I heard about you when I entered in the college premises. Your Big picture in Barrister cloak is still hanging there because till now no one can touch your record . Since that time I was determined to achieve the benchmark that you have set. The first letter I wrote to you when I was getting introduced about the Annulment of Child marriage Act in Indian laws, and I was( Still I am) greatly influenced from your efforts. I don't have enough words to convey about my respect and appreciation towards your ideology. My devotion towards you becomes my motivation to work hard for achieving the benchmark you set. Every night ,I closed my eyes carrying the dream of recieving the gold medal along with my certificate from your hand.
Sir, Today , while writing this letter ,My happiness has no bound when I am informing you that I have bagged the gold medal and achieved the benchmark set up by you. My dream to get my certificate from your hand was on verge to get fulfilled. I was flying high on the sky until I got the news of your denial.
Sir, I know you understand the value of getting appreciation from your inspiration. Also you can very well understand that it was not easy to achieve your benchmark. It needed hard work of day and night . I hope you won't snatch the chance to get the happiness of success , which is certainly my right,by being absent on my special day. I also hope that you will not consider it my stubbornness when I will write that I will not wear the Barrister cloak unless you will present it to me .I will be waiting for you.
Your Eklavya
Aadya.
Ps: Bas guru dakshina me angutha mat mang lijiyega
Anirudh chuckles after reading the last line. A small smile appears on his face along with a slight pang in his heart .He has always wished that his Bondita would break his record. However he never told her because he didn't want to put burden of his ambitions on her tender shoulder. But still he prayed silently to see the day when , as per tradition, he would himself handover his position to her by giving her the gold medal and the Certificate. But Alas!
That's why he rejected the offer to come as chief guest in his college .
But now .
He drew a deep breath and folds the lettet carefully.
"Bihari....Meri London jane ki taiyari karo" He said.
"Tum to nhi Jane wale the" Said Binoy in surprise.
"Ab Jane wala hu, Baba" Said Anirudh , standing up and leaving behind the shocked family members.
So how was the chapter?
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